Even if the results were meagre, a beleaguered Theresa May probably welcomed the opportunity to escape the febrile Westminster atmosphere for a three day visit to China this week. The British prime minister heads a minority government and continues to be haunted by a possible leadership challenge as well as constant Cabinet in-fighting over a hard v soft Brexit.

Her principal aims in China were to try and convince Chinese leaders that she would be in power for some time and that post-Brexit, there would be a new ‘golden age’ of UK-China relations. President Xi and Prime Minister Li said that there could be close relations whatever the UK’s future status.

During his 8-10 January visit to China, the first by an EU leader since the 19th CCP Party Congress, President Macron ( 马克龙 “Makelong” in Chinese) made a strong plea for closer EU-China cooperation based on reciprocity.

Macron’s visit started in Xi’An, the departure point of the ancient Silk Road, and thus a highly symbolic choice to endorse Xi Jin Ping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Whole welcoming Xi’s initiative, Macron warned that cooperation should not be “one-way”. Reciprocity and better access to the Chinese market were thus catchwords of Macron’s visit, as he seeks to reduce France’s trade deficit with China.